Tuesday, 10 June 2014

EU politics in Sweden

In the 20 years that have past sense the Swedish EU referendum and Sweden became a member of the European union, a tradition have grown strong among both the major party's and in the media to keep EU politics as far away from the voters as possible.

One would think that this has to do with eurosceptisism but that's not entirely true.

Sweden is in generally a pro-European member-state but a caution member-state. You will never here ideas of great reforms come out of Sweden, but if you listen hard you will here a whisper of acceptance or most likely the very cautiously and moderate "we will wait and see". Oppose to having influence in Europe the politics and the European future.

For the same reason most Swedish political partys lack a clear policy on EU politics and even more so a vision for the future of Europe.

What's the excuse of this democratic negligence? Some could argue that it comes from a long and strong tradition of intergovernmental collaborations in Swedish "foreign" policy. Where every question is handled separately. That's true, but if that's the excuse, there is a fundamental misunderstanding about what the European Union is and should be.

The EU is a union of integration and common values that's uniting Europeans above the diversity of Europe.

Sweden needs to question it self and its role in Europe as far as politics goes and how politics should be conducted to live up to the tradition of democracy and openness in Sweden.